Elevator door operating mechanism



y 16, 1933- H. v. MCCORMICK 1,909,063

ELEVATOR DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM Filed Aug. 8; 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR Hare/a 1 M Cormick ATTORNE May 16, 1933. H. v. MCCORMICK 1,909,063

ELEVATOR DOOR OPERATING MECHANISM Filed Aug. 8, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ti 4.? n

5 ..45 f1 g. 4. WW4,

, I if, I 459% 45 4 INVENTOR 5 flar'a/q mlwml'cl ATT'ORNEY Patented May 16, 1933 UNITED STATES MENTS, TO vWES'IING'HOUSE ELECTRIC A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS i ATENT OFFICE V HAROLD V. MCCORMICK,.OF LONG BEACH, NEW YORK, ASSIGNOR, IBY MESNE'ASSIGLL ELEVATOR COMPANY, OFiCHICAGO, ILLINOIS,

ELEVATORDOOR OPERATING MECHANISM.

Application filed August a, 1930. s riarno. 473,850.

My invention relates to door-operating mechanism and more particularly to such power-operated mechanism as is employed for openingand closing elevator doors.

One object of my invention is to provide an individual operator for the corridor doors at each floor landing of an elevator which shall. be capable of being easily and inexpensively manufactured, installed and maintained and which shall be simple and eflicient in operation.

Another object of my invention is to provide an electric-motor driven unit foropcrating each door which may be disposed in an approximately verticalposition at one side of the door, where it will occupy a minimum amount of what is usually unoccupied space and where it may be easily inspected and maintained in good operating condition.

A further object of my invention is toprovide a door-operating mechanism of such construction that a small electric motor may be employed to supply the power necessary to open and close thedoor with which the mechanism is connected. It is also an object-of my invention to provide a plurality of closure bars or levers and so connect-themto a pair of center opening doors that they may be easily actuated by a smalloperator disposed at one side of-the door opening.

Other objects of my invention will, in part,

be obvious and will, in part, appear hereinafter.

'For illustrationof one of the many forms v in which my invention maybe employed,'reference may be had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a View, 1n elevation, as 1t ap pears from the interior of an elevator hatchway, of a pair of center opening doors mounted in a corridor opening and an oper-.

ating mechanism therefor embodying my invention Fig. 2 is a view taken along theline 11-11 of Fig. 1; 1

Fig. 3 is an enlarged view,*partly in elevation and partly in section, of the operator shown in Fig. 1 for actuating the door-operating mechanism; and,

4 is a view, in-cross-section, of the traveling nut shown in Fig.1 and the means for, preventing it from rotating. Referring-more particularly to the drawings, Ihave illustrated a door frame 1 for-a corridordoor at a floor landing, as viewed fromthefinterior of anelevator hatchway 2 (only a small portion of which is shown). Inthe door frame 1 is mounted apair of center openingdoors, one of which comprises a low-speed panel 3 and a high-speed panel 4, and the other of which comprises aihighof levers 10, 11 and 12. One end of the'lever 10 is mountedby means of a pin 15 and a fulcrum bearing 16, the latter being mounted on a back plate 17 which is secured to the side of the door frame 1. Theother end of the to one end of the 1ever.1'1,'-the"other end of which is pivotally connected, by a bolt 19, to one'en'd of the-lever 12." The other end of the lever 12'is pivotally connected, by a bolt 20, to the high-speed door panel 5, while the middleportion of the lever 11 is *pivotally connected, by a bolt 21, to a bracket 22 on-the door; panel 6, so that movement ofthe' levers to a straight-line position will close the door,

and movement out of their straight-line pos'ition will open the ,door. The lengths and thepositions of the levers 10, 11. and 12 are so selected that theiroperati'on will'cause the door panel 5 to travel at a higher speed thanthe door panel 6, thereby; causing the panels to reach theirfullropen or their full-closed position, at: the same time.

As a means whereby the movement of the door panels 5 and:6 may be utilized to effect a corresponding movement of the door panels 3 and 4 in an opposite direction, sothat the doors will operateqas' center-opening doors and open and close simultaneously,- I have connected them'by a pair oilevers 25 lever;10 is pivotally connected, bya bolt 18, .7

and 26 and a plurality of links 27, 28, 29 and 3 The lever 25 is pivotally supported at its upper end, by a bolt 32, upon a cross bar 33 disposed above the door panels, while the other lever 26 is connected, at its upper middle portion, by bolt 34, to the bar 33. The lower end of the lever 26 is connected to the bracket 22 on the door panel 6 by the link 30, so that a movement of the door panel 6 will effect a corresponding movement of the lever 26. One end of the link 29 is pivotally connected, by a bolt 35, to the upper end of the lever 26, while its other end is pivotally connected, by a bolt 36, to the middle portion of the lever 25, so that any movement of the lever 26 in one direction by the door panel 6 will cause a corresponding movement of the lever 25 in an opposite .direction.

The lower end of the lever 25 is pivotally connected, by the link 28, to the high-speed door panel 4, while its middle portion is pivotally connected, by the link 27 to a bracket 37 mounted on the rear portion of the lowspeed panel 3, so that movement of the lever 25 by the link 29 will operate the door panels 3 and 4 and cause them to reach their fullopen position or full-closed position at the same time. Thus, it will be seen that operation of the lever 10 will cause both doors to open. or to close simultaneously.

A door operator 40 is provided for actuating the lever 10 to cause the doors to open or to close. The operator 40 comprises a motor 41 that is disposed, in a vertical position at one side of the door, upon a bracket 42 which is attached to the door frame 1. The armature of the motor 41 is directly connected, by means of a flexible coupling 43, to the upper end of a vertically disposed shaft 44. The shaft 44 is mounted in a ball thrust bearing 45 that is secured to the bracket 42 at a point below the motor 41. The thrust bearing permits the shaft to rotate freely but prevents it from moving in an axial direction.

The lower end of the shaft 44 is screwthreaded and has a cooperating screw-threaded traveling nut 46 mounted upon it. Attached to the traveling nut 46 is a lug 47 that has a bifurcated end which straddles an elongated vane 48 on the bracket 42, thereby preventing the nut from rotating with the shaft. Hence, when the shaft is rotated by the motor 41, the traveling nut will move up or down upon the shaft, depending upon the direction of rotation of the motor.

The traveling nut 46 is pivotally connected, by a link 49, to an extended portion 50 of the lever 10. Hence, when the traveling nut is moved upwardly by themotor operating in one direction, it will cause the link 49 to push upwardly on the lever 10, thereby opening "the doors. Conversely, when the traveling nut is moved downwardly by the motor rotating in the opposite direction, it will exert a pull upon the link 49 that will lower the lever 10 to close the doors. As shown, the middle portion of the link 49 is offset or bent to extend partially around the motor 45 so that the link may be coupled to the most ethcient point on the lever 10 without impinging against the motor.

Mounted upon the lower end of the traveling nut 43, is a cylindrical cap 53 which moves upwardly and downwardly with the nut to keep the lower end of the screwthreaded cap covered. A suitable lubricant may be disposed in the cap 53 to keep the screw-threaded shaft 44 and traveling nut 46 lubricated. The cap 53 also prevents any dirt or lubricant from falling or dripping from the screw-threaded shaft. A somewhat similar upwardly-extending cap or cylinder 54 is mounted on the upper end of the traveling nut in position to surround and protect the screw-threaded portion of the shaft 44 when the traveling nut has been run to the lower end of the shaft.

A cover 55 is threaded upon the upper end of the cylinder 54 and is provided with a washer 56 to prevent the escape of lubricant around the upper portion of the shaft 44.

As an additional means for steadying and supporting the screw-threaded shaft 44 and the traveling nut 46, while they are in operation, a pair of bearings 57 and 58 are mounted upon the bracket 42 in position to slidably embrace the caps or cylindrical members 53 and 54. When the traveling nut moves up or down on the shaft, the caps or cylindrical members slide up and down in the bearings 57 and 58 but do not permit any sidewise movement of the nut or the shaft.

While the motor 41 may be electrically connected for operation to any suitable control system, it is particularly well adapted to be employed in connection with the door-operating control system disclosed in the copending application of Charles E. Ellis, Jr., and myself, Serial No. 420,092, filed January 11, 1930, and assigned to Norton-Blair-Douglass, Inc.

In operating the door, if electric energy is supplied to the motor 41 in one direction, the motor will (assuming that we are looking down upon top of it) rotate in a counterclockwise direction and thereby cause the non-rotatable traveling nut 46 to move upwardly toward the motor.

The upward movement of the traveling Y nut pushes the link 49 upwardly, and it, in

turn, pushes the lever 10 upwardly, thereby breaking the toggle levers 10, 11 and 12 and causing them to move the door panels 5 and 6 to their open position.

The movement of the door panel 6 exerts a pull upon the link 30 by which it is connected to the lever 26, and, through the link 29, the lever 25 and the links 27 and 28, simultaneously moves the door panels 3 and 4 to their open positions.

When it is desired to close the doors, electric energy is suppliedto the motor 41 in the opposite direction, whereupon it rotates in a clockwise direction, thereby rotating the shaft 44 in a clockwise direction and causing the traveling nut 46 to move downwardly. The downward movement of the traveling nut exerts a pull upon the link 49 which pulls downwardly 7 upon the lever 10 and thereby moves the toggle levers 10, 11 and 12 into .a straight-line position to close the lock the door panels 5 and 6. I

The closing movement of the door panel 6 exerts a force upon the link 30 that moves the lower end of the lever 26 toward the center of the doorway and thus, through the link 29, the lever and the links 27 and 28, causes the door panels 3 and 4 to move to their closed positions simultaneously with the door panels 5 and 6.

Thus, it will be seen that I have provided a simple and eflicient mechanism in which center-opening doors provided with several panels may be opened or closed simultaneously, and that I have provided a small individual operator that may be readily disposed at the side of an elevator door and operated by a small electric motor.

While I have illustrated and described only one specific embodiment of my invention, I realize that it is susceptible of wide applica tion and I do not desire to be limited to the precise construction illustrated and described.

I claim as my invention:

1. In an operating mechanism for a door, the combination Witha lever for moving said door, of a screw-threaded shaft disposed in a substantially vertical position at one side of said door, a motor connected to the upper end of said shaft for rotating it, a traveling nut disposed on said shaft, and a curved link extending partially around said motor for connecting said nut to said lever to cause the door to close or to open in accordance with the direction of rotation of said motor.

2. In an operating mechanism for a door in a door frame, the combination with a lever for moving said door, of a motor mounted on said door frame, a plurality of bearings vertically disposed below said motor on said door frame, a vertically disposed screwthreaded shaft mounted in said bearings, means for coupling said shaft directly to the armature of said motor, a traveling nut disposed on said shaft, a cap connected to said traveling nut for covering the lower end of said shaft to prevent the dropping of lubricant or dirt therefrom, and means for connecting said nut to said lever to cause the door to close or to open in accordance with the y direction of rotation of said motor.

3. In a mechanism for operating the fast and slow panels of center-opening doors disposed in a door frame, the combination with o a plurality of toggle levers connected to the one side of said ,door frame and to the fast panel and the slow panel of the door disposed at that side of said door frame, and a motor for operating said toggle levers to simultaneously move the door panels to which they are attached to their open orto their closed positions, of means for causing the opposite door to open or to close simultaneously with the togglele ver-operated door, said means comprising a power lever pivotally mounted on the upper part of said door frame and having its lower end pivotally connected to the fast panel of the toggle-operated door, an operating lever having its upper portion pivotally connected to said door frame and its lower of said opposite door in an opposite direction. a

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto subscribed my name this Twenty Fifth day of July 1930.

- HAROLD V. MCCORMICK. 

